VILLAGE OF WESTON, WI (WSAU) — Leaders in the Village of Weston spent over an hour Monday talking with representatives of TDS Telecom about the possibility of expanding service for broadband, video, and voice in the area.
The Madison-based company, which boasts exchanges in over 30 states and over one million customers nationwide, outlined an aggressive entry plan which would see them hooking up services by next September. Acting Village Administrator and Public Works Director Keith Donner said that’s something he’s never seen before. “The bottom line is they are expressing a willingness and have a marketing strategy. We have not had that experience with other providers,” he said.
That timeline would have TDS Telecom spend much of the winter mapping out a plan for laying fiber optic cable in the more populated areas of the village. At the same time, they would take $20 deposits from interested customers to commit to signing up for video, broadband, or voice services. That deposit would then be credited to their first bill.
The purpose of Monday’s presentation was to get feedback from village leaders on a potential investment by the village in the project. Both the Village Board and Community Development Authority voted to allow Tax Increment Funds of up to $225,000 to be used to help lay the fibers, which Donner said would be seen as a benefit to the business parks. Leaders in attendance agreed that the Village’s contribution to the investment should not exceed that amount, but they hoped through negotiations with TDS that the amount could be lowered, possibly to $150,000.
Representatives from TDS Telecom hinted that the Weston project could be the first of their expansion into as many as a half-dozen communities in Marathon County, although they didn’t name any others specifically. Donner said their growth would be based on the more densely-developed service areas. “I think that was made very clear. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be able to serve everybody.”
TDS Telecom said at this time they see the Weston project as a $9-10 million investment in the area which would provide internet speeds of up to 1 GBS along with cable and DVR services and traditional landline phone service for residential customers along with internet and voice services for businesses.
